An adventure-seeking feminist academic blogging about travel, education, personal growth, and the need for societal change!

Reblogged: Why?

This blog post is really well written and definitely delves into the variety of reasons we are pulled to hiking adventures. I haven’t done any super crazy hikes yet, but my appetite for hiking seems to grow and grow. Part of it is the adventure. Part of it is the accomplishment and pride that I feel afterwards. But maybe the biggest part is that I get to see things from a view that wouldn’t have been possible without the hike.

Counting on one hand the days until I go. I start hiking March 23rd, but I leave Seattle March 21st. (You must leave to go, and though they coexist always, leaving and going are different experiences. I’m still in the leaving, but the sense of going is starting to grow.)

The question I get more than any other: Why are you doing this? Why go on long hikes? Some answers come to mind, but this is not an exhaustive list. Even so, it does capture some of why I go, and what I find out there.

-Higher highs, lower lows. The emotional spirals of being human widen when I hike. I get elated, scared, content, tired, lonely, bored, surprised, and I mean I really feel these things. I am colonized by the experience. I think part of why it comes so strong is a general lack of distractions that might…